[Surgical treatment of primary liver cancer complicated with cirrhosis]

From 1964 to 1990, 318 cases of primary liver cancer were treated by surgery. Of them, 227 (71.3%) were complicated with cirrhosis to various degrees: mild, moderate and severe. The lesions in the latter group was greater than 10 cm in 3 patients, 5-10 cm in 7 and less than 5 cm in 17. All were confirmed by histopathology to be hepatocellular carcinoma. The method of operation was partial hepatectomy in 23 patients and intra-tumoral absolate alcohol injection supplemented by microwave coagulation in 4. The amount of absolate alcohol ranged from 18 to 30 ml with an average of 24 ml. The chief complications were jaundice and ascites (13 patients--48%) and gastrointestinal hemorrhage (3 patients--11%). Operative mortality was 15% (4/27). The 1-, 3- and 5-year survival rates were 82%, 39% and 10%.